Philippians 1:9-10 - "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ."

Thoughts on today's verse:

Paul's prayer is worth taking note of. He prays that the believers in Philippi would increase in their love. Notice that he does not specify the object of their love. He does not say that he prays that their love toward God would abound, nor does he pray that their love toward other Christians would abound. No, he simply prays that their love would abound more and more. This is likely a two avenue approach, where they should grow and abound first in their love to God (vertical) with the result of an overflow toward other around them (horizontal), which is pictured well with the illustration of filling a cup. The level of the liquid must first rise vertically before it can begin to flow out and around. This is one way that we can pray for others.

Paul goes on to explain his prayer for their love, that it would grow in knowledge and discernment. Sadly, many in the world today think and teach that love is blind; in other words, that it can and possibly should, operate from ignorance.

Note that "A virtuous man may be ignorant, but ignorance is not a virtue. It would be a strange God Who could be loved better by being known less. Love of God is not the same thing as knowledge of God; love of God is immeasurably more important than knowledge of God; but if a man loves God knowing a little about Him, he should love God more from knowing more about Him: for every new thing known about God is a new reason for loving Him."(F. J. Sheed, Theology and Sanity (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946), pp. 9, 10.)

When we specifically pray for others that they would abound in their love, we ought to pray that their love would increase according to knowledge, that their relationship with the Lord would grow and flourish and that their lives would be impacted by it.

How can one discern the things that are excellent and remain pure until the day of Christ unless he has knowledge?!

"Remember this: a superficial love for God is a sure sign of a superficial knowledge of God. This is why we must give priority to gathered worship with our Bibles and hearts open to God. This is why we must daily open the Scriptures for ourselves and teach them to our children. This is why we must read both the Old and New Testaments with our eyes wide open to Christ, whom God has made known (cf. John 1:18)." (Preach the Word: Philippians, Hughes, p. 42)